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| Alma Coon Eley December 1955 |
Alma Lavenia Coon was four years and nine months old
when her mother became ill, was taken to a hospital, died, and was never seen
again by her family. This story has been
repeated in my family for as long as I can remember. That was the story that my mom remembered
being told about her mother, Mary Lavenia Ramsy Coon. Alma Lavenia was my
mother. She was born in Brookhaven Pike County Mississippi on 02 March 1916 to
Mary Lavenia Ramsy and Clifton Coon.
Mary Lavenia
“Vennie” Ramsy was born in Pricedale, MS in Nov 1876 to Asa and Jane Ramsy. Asa
served in the Confederate Army Eighth Mississippi Calvary Co B and the
Seventeenth Regiment Mississippi Infantry Co F. Vennie married first W.G. “Joe”
Blunt 06 Apr 1893 in Pike County Mississippi. The Blunts were some of the
earliest settlers for Pike County Mississippi.
I had very little information to go on in
researching this line in my family. With the information that I had, I decided
to make a trip to the courthouses in Pike County and Lincoln County
Mississippi, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Archives in
Jackson. I made the trip to the
courthouse in McComb, Mississippi, and there I found a marriage bond of Mary
Lavenia Ramsy and her first husband W. G. Blunt. On the marriage bond was her father’s
initials and Vennie’s age. Things were really going well in my research of this
family, considering that I had such little information to go on when I started
my research.
After the trip to the courthouse, it was time to
look at the census indexes and soundex for the state of Mississippi. This search paid off because I found Mary
Lavenia on the 1880 census living with her father, mother, and sister in Beat 3
Pike County, Mississippi, and her place of birth as Mississippi. Vennie was three years old at the time of
this census. On the 1900 census, I found
Mary with her first husband and son living in the same area that she was living
in 1880. Mary was twenty three years
old, had been married seven years, and
was the mother of three children with only one child still living. I
continued my search for information on the Ramsey family line by looking at the
1910 census for Mississippi. I found a Mary L. Coon was thirty-three years old
and living in Lincoln County, Mississippi with husband Clifton, stepson, two
sons, and two daughters. Two of the sons were the same age. Were they twins? I
had never heard mother mention twins in her family. We had two aunts that we
visited who lived in Lake Providence East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. She talked
of her brothers, but never mentioned twins.
I was having some successes, but more research, and
conversation with my oldest sister Ruby, would clear up the information that
was a little cloudy for me. She was ten
years older than I was, had knowledge of the family history, and was able to
clarify the information I had found on the 1910 census. Clifton was Vennie’s
second husband. The daughters and one son on the census were Vennie’s by her
first husband, one son was Clifton’s by his first wife, and the other son, the
youngest, was Vennie and Clifton’s son. Now that I had that clarified, I was
ready to move on. I set out to find who
Clifton’s first wife was, and when he married. I found that information in a
compiled list of marriages from the local newspapers for Lincoln County,
Mississippi. He married the first time 27 June 1900. I found another record of
the marriage in the HUNTING FOR BEARS computer indexed marriage
records published by Nicholas Russell Murray for Lincoln County, Mississippi
from 1893-1913. Another record that I
found helpful in establishing Clifton Coon and Lavenia Coon as my ancestors was
the World War I Draft Registration Card, 1917-1918. Lavenia was listed as his
wife on the registration card. Other valuable information on the draft
registration card was Clifton’s full name and his birth date. Next, I went to
the 1920 census for Lincoln County, Mississippi and looked for Vennie and
Clifton. I found them on the census, with all the children who were on the 1910
census, plus four more children, two sons and three daughters.
My mother, Alma,
was the youngest daughter and her brother, George, was the youngest child.
Mother was four years and nine months old at the time the 08 Jan 1920 Federal
Census was taken for the Ruth Precinct in Lincoln County, Mississippi. All nine
children were listed on this census living with her as the head. The census
showed that she was married. This is the last census on which Mary Lavenia
Ramsy Blunt Coon is enumerated. Her
husband Clifton Coon is enumerated on the 16 Jan 1920 Federal Census for Beat 1
Marion County, Mississippi listed as a boarder and is widowed. I was unable to
find Clifton on the 1930 census in Mississippi, but found him on the 1930
census in Oak Grove West Carroll Parish Louisiana with the two youngest
children, one stepdaughter, step-son-in-law, and their three children. Living
close by them were relatives who apparently migrated from Mississippi when they
left and headed west. One of the sons married in West Carroll Parish 27
Sept1930 and on his marriage license it stated that Vennie Coon, his mother,
was deceased. My mother, married 29 April 1932, and on her marriage license, it
stated that Vennie Coon, her mother, was deceased.
My search for Mary Lavenia Coon ended with the 1920
census. I requested a death certificate from the state of Mississippi and
Louisiana, but there is no certificate for her death or record of death. I have looked in the surrounding
counties and states, but there are no records of Mary Lavenia “Vennie” Coon.
Vennie’s parents were buried in a family cemetery in Pike County, Mississippi,
and there are unmarked graves in the cemetery. Could one possibly be her grave?
This I will never know.
I have hit
the ultimate brick wall and have exhausted every resource that is available for
that area where my ancestor lived. Maybe one day there will be a story in an
old newspaper, a distant relative, or a resource that is hidden somewhere, that
will tear down this wall. I will continue my quest for a grandmother that I
never knew, the one that became ill, was taken to the hospital, and died to
never be seen again by her family. My mother lived with that story her entire
life and she died at the age of seventy-eight.
Sources:
1870
Federal Census Marshall Mississippi
1880
Federal Census Pike County Mississippi
1900
Federal Census Pike County Mississippi
1910
Federal Census Lincoln County Mississippi
1920
Federal Census Lincoln County Mississippi
Marriage
Bond Pike County Mississippi #352
U.
S Civil War Soldiers’ 1861-1865 film # M232 roll 33
Mississippi
Death Index
Louisiana
Death Index
Wingo
Cemetery Pike County MS Record
U.
S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918 Mississippi District Roll 1
World
War I Draft Registration Card 1917-1918 Roll 1685027
Marriage Records #103 & # 232
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